Pujara, Vijay announce a new order

When India are playing Australia, broken records are never too far away. On a balmy afternoon at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay drove down nostalgic lanes to bring back memories of that epic 376-run partnership between VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid at the Eden Gardens in 2001. Of course, the situations were different and the pressure was another cup of tea. Still, it was a lesson in batsmanhip from two of India's youngest hopes. Pujara and Vijay got together when Virender Sehwag fell with the team on 17 and they only parted ways 370 runs later. That was the fourth best partnership for any wicket for India.

Only stands of 413, 410 and 376 now stand over and above these young Turks. All the protagonists who featured in those record-breaking stands have gone on to claim greatness. Maybe Vijay and Pujara are on the right track too - why it was Vijay's second 300-run partnership against the Aussies. Check out this table to see who else features in India's top 10 partnership list:

Partners

Wicket

Runs

Opposition

Venue

Year

Vinoo Mankad, Pankaj Roy

1st

413

New Zealand

Chennai

1956

Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag

1st

410

Pakistan

Lahore

2006

Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman

5th

376

Australia

Kolkata

2001

Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay

2nd

370

Australia

Hyderabad

2013

VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar

4th

353

Australia

Sydney

2004

Sunil Gavaskar, Dileep Vengsarkar

2nd

344*

West Indies

Kolkata

1978

Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar

3rd

336

Pakistan

Multan

2004

Gundappa Vishwanath, Yashpal Sharma

3rd

316

England

Chennai

1982

Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir

2nd

314

England

Mohali

2008

Sachin Tendulkar, Murali Vijay

3rd

308

Australia

Bangalore

2010

Cheteshwar Pujara (204) and Murali Vijay (167) almost rewrote the record books but Glenn Maxwell played spoilsport, breaking a 370-run stand. While the second wicket partnership was enough to bury the Aussies in the second Test being played in Hyderabad, the young Indian pair was separated six short of the historic 376-run stand between Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman against who else but Australia at the Eden Gardens back in 2001.

Pujara and Vijay, like their illustrious seniors, back in the spring of 2001, fell short of the highest ever stand for any wicket by any team against Australia. Those laurels still rest with Len Hutton and Maurice Leyland of England when they piled on a mammoth 382 for the second wicket at The Oval in 1938.

Here is a look at the top 10 partnerships ever recorded against Australia:

Partners

Wicket

Runs

Venue

Year

Len Hutton, Maurice Leyland (ENG)

2nd

382

The Oval

1938

Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman (IND)

5th

376

Kolkata

2001

Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay (IND)

2nd

370

Hyderabad

2013

VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar (IND)

4th

353

Sydney

2004

Graham Gooch, David Gower (ENG)

2nd

351

The Oval

1985

DS Atkinson, CC Depeiaza (WI)

7th

347

Bridgetown

1955

EJ Barlow, RG Pollock (SA)

3rd

341

Adelaide

1964

DI Gower, RT Robinson (Eng)

2nd

331

Birmingham

1985

AN Cook, IJL Trott (Eng)

2nd

329*

Brisbane

2010

JB Hobbs, W Rhodes (Eng)

1st

323

Melbourne

1912

Cheteshwar Pujara, as India's new number three has been once too often compared with the iconic Rahul Dravid - too early some would say and justly so. Eleven Test matches is a far cry from the 'The Wall's' 164 games but the 25-year-old Saurasthra batsman still found himself in elite company. Pujara became the second fastest Indian to reach 1,000 Test runs, taking just 18 innings to get there. Vinod Kambli took only 14 to get to his first thousand, while the legendary Sunil Gavaskar took 21.

Incidentally, both Pujara and Kambli had notched up two double-centuries within their first 11 Tests but here's the catch. Kambli withered away after just 17 Tests but Pujara has a better example to follow - the man he just pipped as the second fastest Indian to 1,000 Test runs. Not bad company.

India paceman Ishant Sharma was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for gesturing towards the pavilion after dismissing Australian batsman James Pattinson during the third day's play in the fourth Test in New Delhi.

The demoralising whitewash at the hands of India seems to have shaken the Australian team to the core as stand-in captain Shane Watson said it will be a big challenge for them to recover from the reversal.